Face Paint
by firefliesxox
Summary: Naruto's life gets confusing after a chance encounter leaves him re-thinking his whole life.


disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Face Paint

It was Halloween night and, the streets swirled and exploded with boisterous zombies and vampires. "Naruto, someone is here to see you." Minato called up the stairs to his son.

"Just a minute!" came the reply.

Minato sighed and spoke to the boy behind him. "You'll have to wait for him". The boy nodded and sat on the front porch.

When Naruto finally came out of the bathroom, his dad was waiting in the living room.

"Who was here?". Minato stared dumb-founded at Naruto's costume, completely ignoring the question. The small blonde had put black paint over his whiskers and around his eyes then had painted the rest of his face white. The rest of Naruto's costume consisted of white cargo pants, a tight black short sleeve shirt, and work boots.

Minato smiled. "What are you supposed to be?" he asked sarcastically.

"Well you said I could only spend so much, and this was the best I could do with it. You didn't give me enough for a blank mask and some paint." Naruto pouted as the image of the price tag flashed in his mind. He had contemplated getting a quick job to make up the difference, but the only one he ever found was babysitting someone's cat.

Minato's voice broke Naruto's thoughts of the cat scratching him. "Your friend is on the porch".

Upon opening the door, Naruto was met by Kiba and Akamaru, twin werewolves wearing glue-on fangs, and fur-covered gloves and shoes. Kiba grinned and made a "V" with his hands, a sign among a group of friends meaning they were going out drinking.

They trick 'r treated at a few houses to get enough proof to fool their parents,(Kiba had snatched a couple of kids bags just for the hell of it). They then headed to the roofs for the real party. Naruto, Kiba and Akamaru all sat against the supports of a small water tower on top of a Leaf Village home.

"So who's bringing the drinks this time?" Naruto asked the dog-like twins.

"Choji." Kiba answered, stretching his arms above his head. '_The problem with Choji is he might buy food instead._' Naruto was remembering the last time it was Choji's turn and how he only bought chips and then he wouldn't even let the others have some.

It took an hour for Choji to show up with the drinks. He was still dressed in hospital clothes after practicing a technique that had left him severely exhausted, injured and oddly lacking about forty pounds. He was unable to gain the weight back due to a heightened metabolism. It was no surprise he was walking so soon, though; Choji had always been a strong guy. The surprise was seeing him carrying four, twenty-four packs of beer.

Choji said his greetings and set the beer down in the middle of them. Shikamaru joined them after a few more minutes, slinking in quietly as if he was impersonating one of the shadows.

_'Party time!'_ Naruto cheered mentally as they all grabbed a beer. (I **DON'T** condone drinking).

They each threw back a couple of beers before having a contest; who can talk the longest without slurring. Not much of a contest when the current record was ten words. After a couple of rounds of that they played "I've never". Shikamaru went first "I've never skipped school" he said staring at his beer as if it were a diamond. The other boys took a big gulp from their beer. Kiba went next "I've never dated before". Though the statement wasn't a surprise Naruto still didn't believe it. He was even more shocked when choji took a gulp of his beer. "Who have you dated Choji?" Kiba asked staring at Choji like a bald Sasquatch. Naruto was dizzy. Everything was swirling, turning, and morphing. The usually comforting atmosphere beneath the water tower was now scary and overwhelming. Naruto's blurred sight and drunken double vision made the water tower look like a spider. He freaked and jumped from the roof taking off in a mad sprint. Wind was making his eyes water; he closed them for a second and managed to run head first into a hanging shop sign.

Barely conscious, Naruto heard bits and pieces of people talking.

"He ran into the shop sign." The first voice sounded.

"What is he dressed as?" The other responded.

"I don't know, but he smells like Lady Tsunade." Supplied a third, more familiar voice.

Concentrating on opening his eyes, Naruto saw three bodies. Two were wearing all white; the other was wearing combat gear, his blindingly white hair reflecting light into his sensitive retinas. Against the protest of his muscles, Naruto covered his eyes with his arm. He heard a low sigh then felt himself being lifted up. Kakashi's running was making Naruto nauseous; bouncing up and down with your stomach over someone's shoulder was not fun.

Naruto woke up at a later time, his head pounding like a drum. From the night stand beside his bed, Naruto's phone binged loudly. _'That sound always pisses me off when I'm hung-over.'_ Naruto thought. Naruto flipped the device open to a text message from Shikamaru.

"_Hey, Naruto are you ok? You took off last night screaming about a giant spider._"

Naruto groaned after texting back that he was fine. The aching in his head was killing him and the alcohol was making his stomach churn; he realized that his stomach wasn't just churning anymore and rushed to the bathroom. It was too late. He couldn't hold it. He vomited on the floor and walls. As if being called by the sound of his son being sick, Minato appeared in the door way smirking.

"Doesn't feel good, does it?" Minato questioned rhetorically. Naruto threw up again, the stench of fermentation infecting the air. Minato knew the hangover the boy had was enough of a punishment. He'd still have to clean up the bathroom though.

Naruto's hangover accompanied him to school the following day. He had known the consequences would be severe for drinking without permission. He never thought his dad would make him ride out the whole hangover with no headache medicine though. On top of that, he had to clean up the bathroom while he was still sick. The memory of it made him shudder with disgust.

Naruto took his seat just as the bell rang for first period. The noise shot through his ears and ricocheted around in his head. He almost puked again.

"I hope you all had a good Halloween and got a lot of candy, but if I see any candy in my class I will ask you to leave." Iruka said to the class, though it was obviously directed at Choji and Akamaru.

"So, did anyone do anything memorable this Halloween?" Iruka asked looking around. Some of the students still had the glow from a sugar rush. Sakura's hand shot into the air and she started talking before she was called on.

The pinkette was gushing loudly about all the candy she got. Her high pitched voice echoed through the class and attacked the five hung-over students. They all doubled over on the floor holding their heads in pain. Iruka asked what was wrong and the students all yelled in unison, "Don't shout!"

At lunch, the five boys were all still in pain. Naruto's head was throbbing, he felt as if his brain was going to explode. Gaara sat down across from Naruto, watching him closely. "What's wrong with you?" He asked in his raspy voice "You look as though someone knocked you into the wall." Naruto just waved his hand and said "Partying." Gaara smirked. Picking up his tray, he let it drop back to the table in a loud bang. Naruto seethed and growled at Gaara, only getting a chuckle back.

"Maybe you shouldn't drink if you can't handle the consequences." Sakura scolded, sitting next to Gaara. Naruto glared at her. "The only reason I'm in so much pain is because I ran into the sign at Ichiraku's." Naruto said sticking his tongue out at the pinkette.

"Yeah sure, and the only reason Temari isn't dating Shikamaru is because he's too smart." she shot back sarcastically.

"My sister will never date that lazy shadow lover." Gaara snapped at her.

Sakura giggled. "Gaara, I didn't mean it like that. There's no way she would date Shikamaru. Temari is a very active and lively person; it would never work with them. Besides, I think Shikamaru likes Tayuya."

The other pinkette was at a table by the doors with five other kids. The oldest of them was Kimimaro, a boywith white hair and two red dots tattooed on his forehead. The twins; Sakon and Ukon, oddly both had grey hair. Then there was Jirobo, the only person who could match Choji in eating. And finally Kidomaru, who loves spiders as much as Shino loves bugs. (there IS a difference people)

Gaara calmed down and sat.

The lunch bell rang and it was time for biology with Mr. Orochimaru. '_Ugh what is wrong with that sensai. We disect a different snake every other day.'_


End file.
